Essendon portrayed former fitness coach Dean Robinson as a rogue operator in its bid to make him a scapegoat for the club's supplements scandal, a court has heard.
Essendon suspended Mr Robinson in February 2013 as the club revealed its players might have been taking illegal performance-enhancing supplements.
Mr Robinson argues he was made the scapegoat for the scandal, accusing Essendon of concocting a public relations campaign to blame their high-performance manager.
As part of his scapegoat theory, Mr Robinson, nicknamed The Weapon, argues that Essendon adopted a "rogue operator" strategy put forward by a public relations company to discredit him.
He is suing the club for $1.2 million in lost income and additional damages, claiming Essendon breached its terms of employment.
Mr Robinson's barrister, Gideon Boas, told the Victorian Supreme Court Essendon timed its suspension of Mr Robinson to coincide with a press conference on February 5, 2013 when it went public with its doping fears.
He said within 48 hours of Mr Robinson's suspension, more than 100 media articles had linked him to the club's alleged use of illegal supplements.
"What they were doing is singling out Mr Robinson," Mr Boas told the court on Monday.
"The club focused on Mr Robinson as a scapegoat.
"That's why he was stood down.
"Here is a person who was identified as somebody who could take the fall."
Justice Jack Forrest on Monday ordered public relations company Essential Media Communications (EMC) to hand over documents that relate to their work with Essendon to Mr Robinson's legal team.
Mr Robinson will allege former Essendon fitness employee and personal friend Suki Robson was in a meeting in which EMC employee Liz Lukin put forward the "rogue operator" theory to the club.
During the meeting, Mr Robinson will claim that Ms Robson asked, "so we aren't concerned with what actually happened?", to which Ms Lukin replied "no, it won't help us move forward", the court heard.
Essendon denies it did anything to harm the reputation of Mr Robinson and says his position was under review for matters unrelated to the supplement scandal.
The Bombers will argue that he failed to implement a system to ensure substances given to players were not in breach of anti-doping codes.
The matter will go to trial in November.
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